Oof, my right side is pocked with little bruises from fencing last night. Good fun though. I took my usual group lesson in foil, and stayed for a group lesson in epee, which is completely new to me. It’s really different, even though the basic skills transfer easily.
Here’s a little background for those new to the subject. What it only hints at is that while a foil bends easily, absorbing a lot of the force of the attack, the sturdier epee blade can actually hurt when it hits you. But the differences in the rules are what make it interesting.
I found the additional target area was beneficial to me last night; I was scoring a lot of touches on the arm. I also think epee will suit my somewhat defensive general approach pretty well. I’m not really committed to it yet, in terms of buying my own epee and eventually competing in it. I figure I’ll wait until I have some more experience with it. If it’s always this much fun, though, I’ll definitely be doing a lot more of it.
Either way, I’ll definitely keep doing foil. I think being good at foil will make me better at epee, while the reverse is less true.
I don’t know much about fencing, but if I ever got interested, I think I’d do Saber. Wackwackwackwackwackwack!
I always thought I’d be best at sabre as well. My instinct is slash slash slash, not poke poke poke.
You mean you don’t have enough slash in your life already?
I set that one up as a freebie for you.
It was just too wide open to ignore.
But to answer more seriously, part of the goal is to transcend your instincts. New fencers tend to be nervous, which is of course perfectly natural. But the more practiced you become, the cooler you can keep your head, which makes all the difference in the world. I’d like to think that skill can be applied to other situations as well, although I thankfully haven’t had much of a chance to prove it.
Yeah, it’s all flashy and impressive. But I hear the bouts don’t last very long. I hardly ever see anyone fencing sabre at the club where I go, and I’ve never tried it myself, but maybe someday.
Fencing: the only unit in gym class I was ever good at.
Was this in high school? Man, I wish I could have started young, I would be so much better by now. And I might not have been such a pudgy little kid.